St Mary’s Lake

[Big Mike]

This year has been a late start for me, life and weather have rudely inserted themselves. I finally had a small window today to get out and headed to St Mary’s Lake hoping mostly for crappie but hoping for some bass as well. Folks at the ramp reported both in abundance and the water at 57 degrees. I headed up lake and had a small bass within 100 feet of the ramp. I’ve been catching fish from shore but it always feels better to get one from the yak. I picked up a couple more bass and switched over to crappie fishing. Hit all my usual spots without a bite. Went back to bassing and picked up 3 more bass and a decent pickerel. Stayed out about 2 1/2 hours. If we can get a few warm days (apparently not this week) the lake should be in prime catching condition.

[Mark]

Thank you for the report, Mike.

It's good to see you on the water again and to read that St. Mary's remains open and productive.

I really hope to visit the lake again this year.

It's a beautiful body of water.

[dsaavedra]

Glad to hear from you Mike, glad you're back on the water. Sounds like you had a fun quick trip on the lake.

[UnkleRob2020]

Thank you for the report Mike. This brought back fond memories of fishing with a Senko for the first time last year at St Mary's. I had a couple of days that were pretty good (for me). I recall my fishing partner Arron reluctant to try a Senko (we are stubborn). He watched me have a pretty successful day. At one point, I pulled a really nice bass (on a Senko) from an area that he had been working with a spinnerbait. He looked at me in shock as he thought he had thoroughly worked the area. To which I responded to him...."Dude, have you ever seen me fish all day and not change lures?" He agreed this was unusual behavior for me, so he tried a Senko and we both had a nice afternoon.

Life has really shown up for me since last November. A lot of pain and loss has occured in my life. That being said, I may need fishing more than ever this Spring (and beyond) to feel some sense of "normal" and also nature is like medicine for me.

Its always funny when someone pulls a nice fish from directly underneath your kayak. I recall fishing with Cliff last year and I caught a nice yellow perch very close to his kayak. We were both using the equivalient of white beetlespins...I didn't know that my 1/4oz beetespin was too heavy for where we were fishing. I wondered why I kept pulling in items from the river bottom and he kept pulling in white perch. I switched to a much lighter beetlespin on my next trip. I honesty do not believe that I was aware that they came in 1/16oz and 1/32oz.

I learned a lot last year thanks to this forum and from fishing with approximately eight different anglers from SL. I have probably forgotten much of it over the last few months....especially because I never implemented a fishing tracking spreadsheet such as the one posted by John Veil.

Also, I am in possession of some great books from John and Mark. I am embarrased to admit that I haven't read any of them from cover to cover. I have been cherry picking information as I went, but they are incredibly helpful and full of knowlege.



Thanks for the hope, Tight lines everyone!

[Mark]

Rob,

There's a fine line between switching lures and catching fish. Sometimes, fish indeed prefer a different approach. I believe that's one reason I do well with flies. Relatively few kayak anglers fly fish. I have no qualms fishing the same route a conventional angler just completed or even fishing near a person dangling minnows under a bobber. I will often catch fish that they left behind. Clearly, the more subtle, often smaller fly does the trick.

But there is also something to be said for learning to fish a particular lure well. Instead of changing a tried and proven lure, I will first alter my retrieval techniques. If that doesn't work, then it's time to change color, shape, size or the type of attractor I am using. It usually takes me a while to get to that point because I use few kinds of lures and flies overall. I don't carry a lot of choices to select from. But I have confidence with those I have onboard.

Indeed, finding out what fish are willing to hit at a particular time is part of the game. I strongly believe most of us are already carrying or already using it. We just have to present it as well as we can.

[UnkleRob2020]

Thank you for the thoughtful response Mark. You have been a valuable resource to me in many ways. Not the least of which is to try to enjoy the experience even if I am "fishing" but not "catching."

Speaking of retrievals...Arron reminded me last night that I didn't get a hit on the Senko at all until I had cast it, let it drop and then had to attend to some sort of issue in the cockpit. I don't know for sure how long I let it sit, but it was much longer than I would have ever let it sit on purpose. That's when I caught the first fish on a Senko....pretty much by accident :--)

Learning from all of you on this forum, I do realize that there are more factors to fishing than I was previously aware. I do try to be more patient with a lure that I have faith in. Varying my retrieve is the first adjustment, as you mentioned. I noticed last year, for the first time, that when I altered my retrieval (faster, slower, sporadic with a drop) my luck increased. In particular the sporadic return in which I allow the lure to drop in the water column was highly effective. There were days last year where I caught almost everything as the lure dropped.

Until last year, I had never fished with a Senko or a paddletail. I believe that someone posted last year (I am paraphrasing) that if they were on a desert island and only had one lure that it would probably be a paddletail. I am pretty sure that I caught more fish on paddletails than any other lure last year (some trolling, some casting). This was a surprise as I had no idea how to rig one. The first time John Veil saw me proudly presenting my new selection of jig heads and paddletails...he pointed out that I had purchased a large quantity of oversized jig heads (I think I purchased zman redfish jig heads and they were too large for most of the fishing that I was doing in the area. I am struggling to remember, but I believe that I moved towards the Zman Trout Eye and had much more success.

My rheumatoid arthritis was a challenge when trying to rig zman plastics. Then Dave posted a video from Angler's on tips for rigging zman plastic. That was a huge help, although it still isn't easy for me due to the elaztech or whatever they are made of.

Late last year (like October) I purchased a large number of 12 fathom paddletails. I look forward to fishing them this year as I had a lot of success on 12 Fathom plastics that we lent/given to me by a friend.

[Mark]

Late last year (like October) I purchased a large number of 12 fathom paddletails. I look forward to fishing them this year as I had a lot of success on 12 Fathom plastics that we lent/given to me by a friend.

A 3-inch Twelve Fathoms "Fat Sam" paddletail and a 1/4 oz. jig is the lure I would want on a deserted island.


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[UnkleRob2020]

Mark...that looks so good I almost want to take a bite myself :--)

[UnkleRob2020]

Also, I never did get around to learning to tie that loop knot. I have been educated as to why it is advantageous, but I was catching fish on hi vis mono and normal knots...so, I haven't learned the loop knot and still haven't fished with braid...not once ever. Somebody's been telling me I may want to put braid on a medium heavy rod if I want to actually land a snakehead. I am going to do it despite my tendancy to stick with what is familiar to me.

[Mark]

Also, I never did get around to learning to tie that loop knot.

Rob,

Most of the fish we pursue in our kayaks are not leader shy. The loop knot does nothing to "hide" the leader from them. However, it does add mobility/action to a lure or fly, especially when you pause a retrieve. That's why many anglers use it.

You can look up how to tie a loop knot online. There are several ways to tie it.

Or, since you have my book, you can look at page 25. I have illustrated how I tie it there. It's quite simple and an easy knot to tie.

Others use special metal clips for quick lure changes. They work the same as a loop knot to add movement to lures or flies.

Mike -- Thank you for your patience. Rob and I have hijacked your thread. I'm sorry. I hope you yank more picks and bass from St. Mary's Lake soon, and find those crappies that eluded you on your last visit.

[Big Mike]

No apologies necessary. I have the luxury of catching crappies outside my back door.
This year I’m going to be rigged with a Senko for trout and rock. Once I find one I’m going to pepper the area with the Senko just to change things up and see how it does.